San Francisco Visa Appointment

Bonjour!

Things are finally getting accomplished! On Monday, July 22, my lovely IYWT agent, other students going to France, and myself went down to San Francisco for the in-person consulate appointment. I'll get to that later though. First, I'd like to share one of the coolest things I've discovered about the Rotary program this weekend. 

On Sunday, I went up to Seattle to spend the night in a hotel close to the airport with 3 other RYE students as well as my IYWT agent (since our flight was at 6am the next morning). One of the girls flew in from Montana, one was from Seattle, and the other was a girl from who is actually going to Spain. The girl from Montana arrived first, myself second, the girl from Seattle third, and the girl from Idaho last. We all got acquainted in no time and were way deeper in conversation than I ever thought imaginable. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and took some cheesecake back to the hotel room (which, mind you, we never ate and also left in the San Francisco Airport's waiting area...oops?). We had barely known each other a few hours and it already felt like weeks or even months. On Monday we grew even closer and became such rapid friends in less than 24 hours. This is one of the unseen or unmentioned aspects that Rotary Exchange brings you: the opportunity to make lifetime friends in a day or two. It happened at Outbound Orientation and it happened this weekend. Making connections with people so quickly is a part of this experience that I wasn't expecting at all.

Now, back to the actual visa appointment. So everyone either flew in or drove to San Francisco. Those who flew in took the BART (San Francisco's version of the Tube in London) to a location a few blocks away from the consulate. Once we arrived near the consulate we all killed time in Chinatown while the local Californian RYE students trickled in. In one of the shops, I heard a couple speaking in French and was going to talk to them (or at least attempt to), but my buddies were leaving the store and alas, I had to follow. We had lunch at Cafe de la Presse, which was alright, but no where near as good as what we'll all get once we're actually in France. We all tried escargot and I was not a fan of the texture (at all really), but the flavor was delicious (garlic and butter, so that's a given). After lunch we went to the consulate for our 2 o' clock appointment with Jean-Luc. It wasn't what one would expect when hearing they are going for an "interview". You just sat there in front of them and handed your papers and passport in through the window. The only reason you hand to go in person was so that they could fingerprint you and take a photo of you. The woman who worked with me seemed very nice, but they were muttering in French behind the glass... I don't know what they were saying exactly (it was pretty muffled), but I did catch a few words and phrases, which I was proud of. After the appointment itself, we all flew home and I talked the entire flight with the other girl from Seattle. Like I mentioned before, it became so easy with the other RYE students to just talk and actually express emotion in ways that our usual friends frown at. We also ended up sitting next to a Rotarian from the other girl's district! We talked to him for a while and gushed about the program just a bit (ok maybe a lot). Seattle didn't greet us with rain (thankfully) and I believe everyone got back to where they were supposed to be safe and sound!

I should get my visa sometime late this week or early next week!

Until then, au revoir!

Amelia